Making your own domino tenons

[Dave Macy]

Haven't been on much lately, but am considering buying the domino 500. You guys that have it, do you buy your tenons or make your own? Seems like it would be cheaper to make your own so was just curious. Thanks

[Victor Robinson]

For the 500, I usually buy. For the 700, I often make. The 6mm and 8mm tenons do come in bulk packs costing $94 (for around ~1,000 tenons...don't remember quantity off hand), which can save a little money if you need a lot of tenons.

Yes, it's cheaper to make your own and often a good use of scraps, but it can also be more time-consuming than it's worth, especially if you decide to roundover/bullnose for a better fit. Some folks even try to groove or rough up the surface of homemade tenons to better emulate the glue space on the commercial tenons. But if you're just using square stock of the correct width, then all you're doing is thicknessing and ripping to width and it's pretty fast.

Making your own especially makes sense in the larger sizes or when you need tenons for outdoor projects.

[jack duren]

Buy.......

[Dave Macy]

Ok, thanks. Any last min reason why I shouldn't do this? Figure since I'm getting more and more into woodworking, that I may as well make the investment sooner rather than later.

[Andrew Hughes]

Dave the Domino is a great tool.If I'm feeling stingy or only need a few tenons I make them.I even glue them in square with the corners barely chamfered.The pre made one are great esp if you need a lot.My only complaint is sometime they are too tight.
Good luck with your project.

[Ralph Okonieski]

I buy. I prefer to spend my time working on a project rather than making loose tenons. Just my preference.

[johnny means]

Penny wise, pound foolish. My time is to precious to spend making hardware. Not to mention how much I fear making multiple small parts, high risk low reward.

[Sam Murdoch]

I buy. I prefer to spend my time working on a project rather than making loose tenons. Just my preference.

My preference too. I really am happy to have a Domino. It is an essential tool for the way and the kind of work I do - FOR ME! The ready made Festool tenons do fit tightly - sometimes a good thing - often not so necessary. I simply sand the sharp edges off. Takes a fraction of time even on a big glue up and allows for some trial and error fitting and a little bit of side to side adjustment. The most important aspect of the Domino for me is its alignment of two surfaces. I am very fussy to set my table accurately so that I can achieve perfect flush with two mating surfaces for glue up. An excellent tool.

[Andrew Hughes]

So if you guys needed 6 or 7 Dominos in a size that you ran out of you would buy a bag of 300 for 20.00. Or spend 20 mins and make about 20+ out of scraps .
Maybe I'm more frugal then I realize.

[Cary Falk]

I was in the same boat. In another thread it was mentioned that you can buy the Systainer of assorted Dominos from Amazon Germany for about $180. I sold the systainer and cutters. Kept the dominos for <$10.

[Sam Murdoch]

So if you guys needed 6 or 7 Dominos in a size that you ran out of you would buy a bag of 300 for 20.00. Or spend 20 mins and make about 20+ out of scraps .
Maybe I'm more frugal then I realize.

Well for this very specific scenario I would most likely make them unless I could wait the 4 business days to get them sent to me. If I'm out I need to order more in any case. i don't let myself run out - of Dominos or gas for my truck.

EDIT - I mostly use the 5, 6, and 8 size and very occasionally the 10s. Gets a little dicey producing the 5 & 6s safely. The bigger ones would be easy enough but as I rarely use them my current stock will last me for years, or at the least, one big project.

[Prashun Patel]

I am in the minority. I make my own dominos. I enjoy the process and it saves money. I can alter the length and width as necessary. I have a small bench hook that makes it a breeze to plane them for a perfect fit.

I Am a hobbyist though. If I were a pro like some of these guys, making the tenons would negate the reason I would have bought the domino in the first place: time savings.

For small Dominos I just chamfer the edges with a block plane or at the table saw. For larger ones, I use a roundover bit. A bullnose would be easier, as anyone trying to make a bullnose with a roundover can attest to. However, if you are making thick dominos, the roundover is the only way to achieve a square edge.

I'm not always using the Domino to bang out projects. Sometimes I simply want an accurate way to drill mortises. You can use the Domino to drill offset holes that will result in custom length and width mortises. In this case, the corners will be rounded over. For an integral tenon, I'd square off the mortise corners. For a loose tenon, I just roundover the corners.

[James Zhu]

I bought my domino with the tenon assortment, since it has all the cutters. After i used all the domino tenons, I make my own tenon, very easy. I use 3/4'' D x 3/8'' H x 1/8'' R x 1/2'' Shank Rockler Roundover/Beading Bit, item #2238.

[peter gagliardi]

I have owned my Domino machines for several years, I have yet to buy any.
The scrap bin sits at the end of the saw, and I can digitally set the fence, so I can produce what I need, from same or different specie cheap and quick.
Simple rectangle is all you need if sized right, the radiused edges are doing almost nothing.

[Larry Edgerton]

I had a set of corrugated back knives made with 14/12/10 sizes on one cutter. Smaller ones I just buy.